Have you ever met a child psychopath?

[TheJuryIsOut]

There's some debate about whether psychopaths are born like that or made as a consequence of their environment/upbringing. If they are born that way (which I believe they are) have you ever met one? What were the signs?

I say this because there is a child in my wider family who I think may be a psychopath, there has been signs from when he was very very young and as he moves through his teenage years things have only got worse. I can't get on board with it being an environment thing as no one else in the family behaves the way he does, it's quite terrifying to think that no matter what you do your child could still go on to do horrific things and not feel a jot of guilt.

What do you think? Are they born or made?

If I ever had a kid who killed a pet I’d drown it in a bucket .

I think even the pedants here can agree that whilst undiagnosable, children can still exhibit disturbing behaviour that meets the criteria for ASPD in adulthood.

Of course there are adults who may judge a child harshly or children who act out due to hidden abuse, bullying or neurodivergence but we can all tell when there's something cold and cruel and very unusual in some children (and eventual adults)

My well wishes to those who encounter people like that but whose parents keep making excuses for them and never got them help in childhood when it might have mattered.

I'm certain they are not excusing the behaviour in the slightest ,they are stating the facts of knowledge that statistically a 'damaged child' is very likely to 'damage' others .

If his father had no empathy and cared for no one, this person did in fact not have a normal childhood. Just imagine what having a parent like that does to a child and the whole family.

Kids do stupid shit

Some kids have parents who can protect them when they make a mistake, and really love them. Others have distant relatives who go about labelling them a psycho 🙄

My support for adults who think theyre bloody okay to slap a kid with such a label. Awful behaviour

Haven't RTFT, but my opinion is that some people are born with something missing that makes them psychopathic. Others have something happen to them (abuse, traumatic brain injury) that 'messes them up' so much that they end up as psychopaths. It's also 'interesting' that some who experience the worst abuse don't perpetuate the cycle, while others do. Perhaps the ones who do were predisposed to it in some way, at least more so than those who work their way past it or at least would never inflict pain or suffering on others.

I hear what you're saying but do you genuinely believe that there aren't kids who eventually become psychopaths? Obviously most kids acting out are just being kids. I'm talking about the 1 in a 1000 child who tortures animals, hurts others (intentionally), shows no fear or respect for rules or authority etc.

That's not kids being kids.

Follow up to this and I just googled to check if my understanding is correct.

It seems it is. In that psychopaths have no empathy. They are driven solely by their own interest and don’t feel much emotion.

So violent psychopaths as OP says aren’t really a coherent category. Psychopaths are usually not going to be emotionally violent, because they don’t have emotions. And they are only having risk to their liberty and freedom and no satisfaction or emotional reward from being violent so why do it.

I think OP might be talking about sadists. Which are people who enjoy others displeasure.

Anyway, it's a scientific fact that psychopathy is linked to structural and functional abnormalities in the brain's frontal lobes, particularly the prefrontal cortex.

This region regulates emotional responses, empathy, and impulse control. Individuals with psychopathic traits often show reduced gray matter and poor connectivity between the frontal lobes and emotional centers like the amygdala.

So nature is the overriding factor imo, and then the environment may trigger the behaviour.

Maybe not an actual psychopath, but there was a kid at my DS’s primary school who had a lot of warning signs. Quite popular as it goes (biggest, strongest, Sept born boy with it). Definitely had a Henry VIII/ Donald Trump vibe about him.

Growing up with a sociopathic parent is damaging any child. This person had no normal childhood and was abused from day one.

structural and functional brain abnormalities can absolutely be caused by nurture (or rather lack of) An enormous amount of brain wiring happens post birth.

The reason for the exclusion is that immature brains in kids mean they can often act like psychopaths until their brains mature. It’s not that the kid turns into a psychopath at 18 - it’s that he hasn’t grown out of being a psychopath before being 18. Now I’d argue plenty of kids show a reasonably degree of genuine (not just copied) empathy at a much much younger age and certainly if he is approaching 18 and still seems that unusual it’s a bit scary but then the actual age finishes developing is mid 20s.

Made.
Some of the from very early on - in the womb.

I have worked in childcare for around 30 years, with thousands of children. I have met many troubled children who are the product of their cruel upbringing. I have only met one child who was just purely evil, terrified the living daylights out of me. I dread to think what he will become as an adult.

They cannot be diagnosed. You’re right.
but children are born sociopaths. If they have a loving family they can manage through life but will never fully understand empathy. If they have a dysfunctional upbringing they can develop into quite dangerous people.
brain scans show psychopathology.
and there are children who are psychopaths.

Yes. I was related to one. Zero conscience or empathy, coupled with being utterly charming and charismatic. Left a trail of destruction in his wake his whole life. Luckily he didn't have sadistic or murderous traits.

DH is a teacher and there is one child who ticks all the boxes. Can't be allowed to handle live animals as he hurts them deliberately. No SEND needs. Scary child. Triggers allergies in other children for fun e.g. wiping his apple on a child's arm who had just told him he had an apple allergy. Strangles children as his default attack. DH was delighted when his parents took jobs abroad.

Yes they are born that way.
and no, a switch is not flipped when they’re 18.
hopefully your young relative will receive the help he needs. With love and care they can have a good life. But will never understand empathy.

If I’m being 100% honest I’ve always wondered about my sister. She’s not violent but she can be so underhanded and I know she feels no guilt because she’s told me. I love her because she’s my sister but when we were kids she scared me a lot. She can be really fun to hang out with but there’s something off and there always has been. She was born like that.

My kids instinctively kind of weary of her as well which is really weird. We were not abused or anything btw my dad was an alcoholic but not violent or aggressive, he was a but irresponsible it as children we just thought he was fun.

I've never met a child psychopath, but I've met kids who 'had the devil in them' and then grew out of being tw@ts.

Ive met a few in adulthood - they're not all killers. Many CEOs have psychopathic brains.

Are the made or grown? I'm with you, they are made. How they develop is their choice. This may be influenced by their environment, but it's def 100% their choice, hence why some go on to be murderers and others don't directly kill anyone, but instead may make many employees lives very difficult!!!

He wasn't called Jamie Bulger. He was James and was known as such to his family, and his mother is on record as saying that it upsets her when people get his name wrong.

Anyway, I knew a girl who has remained awful as an adult. Charming, personable, superficially polite - but turns on a sixpence to vengeful rage. Cruel, no empathy, no remorse. Has ruined lives with fake allegations and evil lies. She's a psychiatric nurse now, FFS.

The problem is the numerous adults who think their nephew is 1 in 1000 and is a psychopath

That kind of thinking leads to shifty treatment which leads to a lifetime of struggle

And that affects more people than the occasional psycho - who nothing can be done about anyway because- theyre a child

That may well be the case but they are not all born with the same ability to remain innocent.